physical education activities that provide opportunities for self expression and emotional mastery

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Physical Education Mike Smith • Jan 12, 2022 • Last Modified: Aug 31, 2023

Opportunities for Social Emotional Learning in Physical Education

According to the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning ( CASEL ), social and emotional skills are an important part of how students “acquire and apply the knowledge, skills, and attitudes to develop healthy identities, manage emotions and achieve personal and collective goals, feel and show empathy for others, establish and maintain supportive relationships, and make responsible and caring decisions.” There are myriad ways you can incorporate social emotional learning (SEL) throughout physical education class and at recess.

Physical education enables students to practice the five core competencies of SEL as defined by CASEL: self-management, relationship skills, responsible decision-making, social awareness, and self-awareness. Consider choosing a specific SEL competency to focus on during each class period. Make sure to comment on student successes in those areas and emphasize activities that help them to practice the skills involved. Take advantage of activities, educational games, videos, and webinars created specifically to emphasize SEL.

Here are some ideas to help you include activities related to the five core competencies of social emotional learning in your physical education class.

Self-Management

Teach your students the concept of Spirit of the Game (SOTG) and what it means. One idea is to show your students a brief video of an athlete or sports figure who exemplifies this concept. For example, I have often used the video below about Peyton Manning to aid in teaching. Once the video is over, have a short discussion with your class about what they saw and felt.

Relationship Skills

Help students learn to celebrate each other’s successes, whether they win or lose. When we as adults work with another person or collaborate, we usually acknowledge them and thank them for their time and effort. Kids do not inherently know how to do that, so it’s up to us to teach them. This free webinar about celebrating student successes is a great source of easy-to-use ideas to add fun, laughter, and acknowledgment to your classroom atmosphere.

Responsible Decision-Making

Give your students the opportunity to participate in team-building activities. One simple and fun activity is called Duct Tape Descent.

Directions for Duct Tape Descent:

• Organize students into groups of 5-6 and give each group one roll of duct tape or other similar tape .
• While standing, each student places one index finger sideways on the bottom of the duct tape roll. See image for an example (there will be 5-6 fingers holding up the roll) .
• Starting position for the roll of tape is between the waist and chest level of the group. A teacher or staff helper is recommended to get the activity started.
• Once all students are touching the roll, instruct them to cooperatively lower it onto a designated spot marker or cone . If ONE person’s finger is not touching the roll at all times, the group must go back and start over.

In my experience, this activity is harder than it looks. Often on the first try, groups rush or move the roll of tape too fast, during which someone’s finger inevitably comes off. This provides a great opportunity for students to evaluate and make decisions as a team. Include a debrief at the end of the activity and encourage students to discuss what they learned.

Social Awareness

Encourage empathy and understanding of other perspectives among your students. This can be another opportunity to present real-world examples of individuals who embody compassion. Another powerful video I like to use tells the inspiring story of a bullied student who decided to make a change that ultimately had a dramatic impact on his life and the lives of his fellow students. Stories like these can open the door to deeper discussions in your class on social awareness and understanding the perspectives of others.

Self-Awareness

During my teaching career, one of the activities I liked to do at the end of physical education class was a quick self-assessment or check for understanding. This can cover a concept or skill you taught that day. In this case, it involves educating your students about self-efficacy related to self-awareness and SEL. One way to do this is through an activity called Light Bulb Moment.

Directions for Light Bulb Moment:

• Draw a lightbulb on a piece of chart paper or a whiteboard and hang it in your gym or classroom.
• Pass out a sticky note and pencil to each student.
• At the end of class, ask your students this question: “What light bulb came on today about yourself?” Instruct them to write one positive thing about themselves on why they were successful that day, or how they persevered and handled the challenges of the day. Most importantly, remind them to think positively of themselves.
• Once the students are done, they can stick their notes to the lightbulb and head out to their next class. Light Bulb Moment can be a very powerful tool for you as a teacher to see where your students are at and what they got out of a lesson.

Social emotional learning is vital to help students gain the confidence to explore, grow, and succeed. SEL concepts can and should be encouraged in every learning space. Physical education class offers a unique setting for students to participate in many hands-on activities to help guide them through their SEL experience and development into adulthood.

Mike brings 19 years of experience teaching K–12, district and state instructional committees, plus 4 years teaching in higher education and 7 years as a Colorado Department of Education consultant and national presenter. He has served on various Physical Education organizations and boards. With this varied background to share, Mike is often invited to present at national, regional, state, and local conferences. Read more by Mike Smith–>

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SEL Possibilities in Physical Education

Physical education teaches relationship-building and self-management skills, making it a natural for social and emotional learning.

Social and emotional learning (SEL) has become one of the fastest-growing topics in the world of education. As a result, school districts all across the country are asking, “What does SEL look like in our schools, and how can we improve it?” While the search for SEL opportunities continues, schools should consider the integral role that physical education class can play in the long-term goal of social and emotional learning. 

Outdated stereotypes of dodgeball and kickball have plagued physical education (PE) for years. But PE is far more than just rolling out the ball for kids to play and mess around. Instead, physical education today offers a wide variety of fitness, health, and wellness skills that help students to prepare for long-term healthy lives. And beyond developing cardiovascular endurance and muscular strength, PE is a subject that supports the full picture of healthy lives.

As a result, physical education offers a valuable opportunity to impact all areas of student development—physical, mental, social, and emotional. Better yet, all of these are packed into the national standards for physical education.

Physical Education’s Social and Emotional Standard 

Almost every subject presents an opportunity to find unique ways to incorporate social and emotional learning into class. But not every subject has it written directly into its national standards. Physical education does. Within the five national physical education standards defined by Shape America , standard number four states, “The physically literate individual exhibits responsible personal and social behavior that respects self and others.”

Many physical education teachers proudly boast of this as the SEL standard. If we take a closer look, the standard directly taps into CASEL and what they define as the five core competencies of SEL:

• Self-awareness
• Self-management
• Responsible decision-making
• Relationship skills
• Social awareness

Using these five core competencies, physical education departments can evaluate and label how they currently offer social and emotional learning throughout their program and where they can potentially improve.

The 5 Core Competencies in Action

To help illustrate the connection between SEL and PE, let’s use Canton High School in Massachusetts as an example.

Canton was recently featured in a national video spotlight for their comprehensive approach to physical education. Because it’s a nationally recognized physical education program, let’s find an example of each of the five core competencies in action.

1. Self-awareness (developing interests and a sense of purpose). At Canton High School, the physical education department has evolved its curriculum from ninth to 12th grade to promote self-awareness. Instead of a games/sports-focused ninth- and 10th-grade curriculum, the school offers classes focusing on skill development, personal fitness, and health. The shift fosters a safe and nurturing environment where students can develop personal interests and then begin to make more individual choices in 11th- and 12th-grade electives.

2. Self-management (exhibiting self-discipline and self-motivation; setting personal and collective goals). Every student in the high school's sophomore personal wellness class (featured throughout the video) goes through an introduction-to-fitness course. In this course, students set personal goals on how to improve their general fitness and are guided through ways to motivate themselves through challenging workouts and activities. All of this is done using an individualized approach so that every student has a chance to succeed.

3. Responsible decision-making (learning how to make a reasoned judgment after analyzing information, data, and facts). Students also navigate cognitive nutrition lessons in the same sophomore personal wellness class. Teachers utilize a curriculum that takes an informative, not prescriptive, approach to nutrition. After students get all the facts and information, they have to make their own decisions on personal nutrition that work best for them and their daily lives.

4. Relationship skills (practice teamwork and collaborative problem-solving). As a culmination of the personal wellness class, students form small groups and are tasked with leading a class. The teams must collaborate to find lesson materials, plan an entire lesson, and execute it with a larger group. After teaching the class, the leaders must practice empathy and patience when introducing a new topic to other students.

5. Social awareness (understanding and expressing gratitude). While much of physical education is activity based, Canton has recently implemented a mindfulness curriculum into class. These lessons guide students through mindfulness exercises and practices that include specific sessions on gratitude, heartfulness, communication, and other social awareness concepts. While this is a more obvious SEL connection, it’s one that physical education is adopting in more and more schools.

Putting PE and SEL on Display

As the above example shows, social and emotional learning is not hard to find in physical education class. It might be intimidating to put your PE curriculum under the SEL microscope, but you might be surprised by what you find. As school districts feel the added pressure of incorporating SEL, they should turn to the physical education teachers who have tirelessly worked to develop curriculum and lesson plans like the ones I describe here.

By doing so, we can also make a case for even more emphasis on and investment in SEL in physical education and schools. It all starts with advocating and highlighting that physical education plays a key role in social and emotional learning for our students.

School-Based Physical Activity Improves Healthy and Supportive School Environments

The social and emotional climate ( SEC ) includes aspects of students’ educational experience that influence their social and emotional development. A positive SEC helps create safe and supportive learning environments that can affect student:

• Engagement in school activities.
• Relationships with other students, staff, family, and community.
• Academic performance. 1

School physical activity policies and practices contribute to the overall SEC and can also help to develop students’ social and emotional learning (SEL). 2 A Comprehensive School Physical Activity Program (CSPAP) can increase physical activity opportunities before, during, and after school. Offering physical activity programs before and after school and making physical activity part of classroom time can increase opportunities for social interaction and enjoyment of learning alongside peers.

Schools are in a unique position, regardless of learning mode, to help students attain the recommended 60 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity daily. 3 Schools can support a CSPAP and reinforce SEL core competencies at the same time.

School leaders can

• Recognize the value of physical education and physical activity for health, enjoyment, challenge, self-expression, and social interaction. 4
• Support physical activity integration in the classroom to reinforce what is taught in physical education and give students a chance to practice their new knowledge and skills. Offer daily recess for free play and socialization which are important for building connections with other students. 5
• Encourage teachers and staff to model active lifestyles and strengthen relationships with students by being physically active during the school day with students.
• Promote equitable access to physical activity by communicating to parents, teachers, and staff about free and low-cost activities that can be done at home and resources in the community that don’t require extra equipment or facilities to be physically active.
• Partner with local government to create shared-use agreements to allow public access to school facilities, such as gymnasiums, playgrounds, running tracks, and sports fields.
• Implement policies that prohibit using physical activity as punishment (running laps) or withholding opportunities for physical activity as a form of punishment (not allowing students to participate in recess).

Examples of actions to support this effort include:

• Assessing physical education and physical activity policies and practices for alignment with SEC principles and SEL core competencies.
• Incorporating SEC and SEL into existing policies (e.g., Comprehensive School Physical Activity Program , local school wellness policy ) and school improvement plans.
• Using physical education content and active classroom and recess practices and that align with SEL core competencies.
• Communicating with parents about the connections between physical activity, SEC, and SEL that include benefits for students’ health and academic success.
• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Whole School, Whole Community, Whole Child (WSCC) website. https://www.cdc.gov/healthyschools/wscc/index.htm . Accessed February 22, 2021.
• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. School health guidelines to promote healthy eating and physical activity. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 2011;60(RR-5):1–76. https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/pdf/rr/rr6005.pdf [PDF – 974 KB] . Accessed April 22, 2021.
• Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL). What Is SEL? website.   https://casel.org/what-is-sel/ . Accessed October 23, 2020.
• Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL). SEL: What Are the Core Competence Areas and Where Are They Promoted? website. https://casel.org/sel-framework/ . Accessed October 23, 2020.
• US Department of Health and Human Services . Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans, 2nd edition. Washington, DC: US Department of Health and Human Services; 2018. https://health.gov/sites/default/files/2019-09/Physical_Activity_Guidelines_2nd_edition.pdf [PDF – 14.9 MB] . Accessed April 20, 2021.
• SHAPE America. Crosswalk for SHAPE America National Standards & Grade-Level Outcomes for K-12 Physical Education and CASEL Social and Emotional Learning Core Competencies website. https://www.shapeamerica.org/standards/guidelines/sel-crosswalk.aspx . Accessed February 22, 2021.
• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Increasing Physical Education and Physical Activity: A Framework for Schools, 2019 . Atlanta, GA: US Department of Health and Human Services; 2019. https://www.cdc.gov/healthyschools/physicalactivity/pdf/2019_04_25_PE-PA-Framework_508tagged.pdf [PDF – 2.4 MB] . Accessed February 22, 2021.

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March 13, 2024

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Explicit socioemotional learning can have a key role in physical education lessons, study says

by University of Exeter

Teachers might be more motivated to help students engage with their emotions and build their resilience when this work is part of lessons, rather than as an add-on intervention, a new study has found.

Using socioemotional learning to support children to develop communication skills , handle stress and accept failure works best as part of everyday teaching —rather than when it is not organically linked to the school life and curriculum, reseachers have said.

The study , by Eleni Dimitrellou, George Koutsouris and Alison Pearson from the University of Exeter's School of Education, is published in the journal Pastoral Care in Education .

Dr. Dimitrellou said, "There is a need to explicitly introduce socioemotional oriented teaching in secondary education to ensure young adolescents enjoy positive short-term and long-term outcomes linked with positive attitudes toward self and others, positive behavior, well-being and academic success ."

Dr. Koutsouris added, "Teachers felt a curriculum based around social and emotional learning had a place not only in primary where some think it might be more suited but in secondary schools as well. These are skills learned in a developmental continuum where students need to cultivate some basic skills first before being in the position to develop more complex ones.

"Teenagers are more likely to experience emotional challenges, and even if they are equipped with effective strategies to regulate their emotions in primary education they should be able to access this form of support in secondary school."

Academics worked in partnership with one mainstream secondary school in the South West of England for two months during the summer term in 2022. Two teacher trainees and one qualified PE teacher designed, evaluated, and planned a sequence of four lessons focusing on integrating socioemotional-oriented teaching in PE using a lesson study approach, originating in Japan.

As part of the study, PE teachers worked together with students in a range of activities. In one case the PE teachers taught students team building by asking them to work together in pairs to climb a wall while one of them was blindfolded. At the start of the activity, students had to discuss and agree on a strategy to meet this target. In the end, they had to reflect on their abilities and discuss what went well and wrong and how things could have been done differently.

Two distinct views among participating teachers emerged. One one hand, there was a view that the core structure and content of the subject should remain unchanged. Experienced teachers involved in this discussion questioned the introduction of socioemotional oriented teaching in PE lessons, expressing concerns that it might prevent children from learning physical development skills.

However, teacher trainees seemed more open to recognizing the benefits that explicitly teaching social and emotional skills might bring to students. There was the belief that students who struggle, especially emotionally and socially, might reap more benefits from such an approach. This might reflect how emotions and mental health are more openly discussed by younger generations.

Provided by University of Exeter

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• Home Blog Post , The Skillastics Blog

Social and Emotional Learning Through Physical Activity

• Sandy Slade
• January 28, 2020

Table of Contents

Social and emotional learning (SEL) enhances students’ capacity to integrate skills, attitudes, and behaviors to deal effectively and ethically with daily tasks and challenges. A physical active environment is the ideal place to enhance these skills. Whether achieving a personal best in the mile run, competing on a successful team, or dropping a catch during a key play – these are all situations where social emotional learning come in to play.

There are five core competencies that can be taught in many ways across many settings;

• Self Awareness
• Self-Management
• Social Awareness
• Relationship Skills
• Responsible Decision-Making

Physical Education or a physically active environment allow perfect “teachable moments” in all five.  Below we’ve outlined how participating in Skillastics® create experiences that help enhance proficiency in these core areas.

Self-awareness

The ability to accurately recognize one’s own emotions, thoughts, and values and how they influence behavior.  The ability to accurately assess one’s strengths and limitations, with a well-grounded sense of confidence, optimism and a mindset of growth.

• Identifying emotions
• Healthy self-perception
• Recognizing strengths
• Self-confidence
• Self-efficacy

Skillastics ® is a resource of team activities. The success of Skillastics, is dependent on each  participants behaviors.  Personal and social responsibility is crucial.  How one interprets and expresses information about an activity, how one encourages his/her teammates, and how one demonstrates his/her  level of involvement,  all factor into recognizing and assessing individual emotional involvement. Skillastics ® allows children of all ages and skill levels equal chance of participating and working on a level playing field.  Skillastics ® allows each participant to lead and succeed, raising the level of self-confidence and self-efficacy. 

Self-management

The ability to successfully regulate one’s emotions, thoughts, and behaviors in different situations – effectively managing stress, controlling impulses, and motivating oneself.  The ability to set and work toward personal and academic goals.

• Impulse control
• Stress management
• Self-discipline
• Self-motivation
• Goal-setting
• Organizational skills

Skillastics® offers both a competitive and non-competitive option.  The competitive option challenges participants to play at a higher intensity (MVPA) while encouraging teamwork, fair play and responsibility. Skillastics® is self-directed, and provides instructors the freedom to assess participants individually or within a small group setting.  Skillastics® creates a positive environment that invites both, participant self-reflection and self-evaluation, which enhances  personal and social responsibility.

Social awareness

The ability to take the perspective of , and empathize with others, from diverse ethnicities and cultures.  The ability to understand social and ethical norms for behavior and to recognize family, school, and community resources and supports.

• Differentiated
• Appreciation for diversity
• Respect for others

Skillastics ® is an all-inclusive activity for all ages and abilities.  Children are grouped into 6 teams of varied abilities and cultures.  In order for teams to advance, each team member takes a turn being the leader.  Skillastics offers diverse, academically integrated questions and activities to engage individual cultures, ages and abilities. Skillastics diversity depends on individual strengths and differences to create a strong and successful team.  

Relationship skills

The ability to establish and maintain healthy and rewarding relationships with diverse individuals and groups.  The ability to communicate clearly, listen well, cooperate with others, resist inappropriate social pressure, negotiate conflict constructively, and seek and offer help when needed.

• Communication
• Social engagement
• Relationship-building

Skillastics® is a team activity. Skillastics’ teams work collectively to complete the desired repetitions required under the direction of a team leader.  Each team member participates in the role of the leader.  As a team mate, effective communication, listening and comprehension skills are required to advance around the mat.  Positive relationships are built as each team succeeds.

Responsible decision-making

The ability to make constructive choices about personal behavior and social interactions based on ethical standards, safety concerns, and social norms.  The realistic evaluation of consequences of various actions, and the consideration of one’s self and others well-being.

• Identifying problems
• Analyzing situations
• Solving problems
• Ethical responsibility

Skillastics ® rules are simple and easy to follow, Skillastics ® rules are paramount to the success of the activity.  Overall performance is enhanced when Skillastics® ® rules are followed.  Skillastics ® provides it’s instructors with behavior modification differentiation. Skillastics ® provides opportunities for large group management behavior redirection allowing more time on task. Skillastics ® provides a positive cooperative learning environment that integrates academics from STEM, nutrition, fitness, problem solving, and more.   

Character is Cool Skillastics provides the perfect balance between physical activity and SEL. Each of the 26 activities are associated with a character trait and are based on teamwork and leadership activities.   CLICK HERE to learn more.

About the Author

Sandy Slade is the CEO & Founder of Skillastics®, the #1 on-site and virtual physical activity resource for groups of children of all sizes.  The on-site programs are designed around Skillatsics Activity Kits.  These Activity kits include an innovative technique of play, executed on an oversize mat, where up to 100 children can play at one time.

The virtual programs provide students with an amazing variety of physical activity experiences that consist of 30 days of content lasting 30-40 minutes a day taught by national experts.

Skillastics® is enjoyed by over 10 million students in more than 25,000 Physical Education and After School settings nationwide.

For more information, email [email protected] or check out www.skillastics.com .

Latest Blog Posts

Five ways to Boost Your Physical Activity Program Even with Limited Staff

Why Skillastics® Is The Best Choice for Your Physical Activity Program.

Physical Activity vs. Movement: Consider Both For Your After School Program

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The Relationship among College Students’ Physical Exercise, Self-Efficacy, Emotional Intelligence, and Subjective Well-Being

Purpose: To deeply analyze the influencing factors on college students’ subjective well-being and the path mechanism between each factor. Method: The physical activity rating scale (PARS-3), the emotional intelligence scale (EIS), the self-efficacy scale (GSES), and the subjective well-being scale (SWS) were used for 826 students from two comprehensive universities in southwest China. College students conducted a questionnaire survey, and used SPSS22.0 and AMOS21.0 statistical software to process and analyze the obtained data. Results: (1) Physical exercise was significantly positively correlated with self-efficacy, emotional intelligence, and subjective well-being; self-efficacy was significantly positively correlated with emotional intelligence and subjective well-being; emotional intelligence was significantly positively correlated with subjective well-being; (2) Physical exercise has a direct positive predictive effect on subjective well-being (ES = 0.16); (3) Self-efficacy (ES = 0.057) and emotional intelligence (ES = 0.077) play a part in mediating the role between physical exercise and subjective well-being, respectively. Meanwhile, the chain mediation effect (ES = 0.026) of self-efficacy and emotional intelligence also achieved a significant level, among them, only others’ emotional management and emotional application were involved in the regulation of emotional intelligence. Conclusions: Actively participating in physical exercise could not only directly improve the level of subjective well-being of college students but also indirectly affect their subjective well-being by improving their self-efficacy, as well as their emotional management and emotional application abilities, thereby improving college students’ life satisfaction feelings of happiness, such as degree, positive emotion, and negative emotion.

1. Introduction

At present, with the continuous transition from a survival-oriented society to a development-oriented society, building a happy society has become one of the goals of a country’s future economic and social development. However, among college students, the incidence of mental health problems is increasing year by year [ 1 , 2 ], which greatly reduces the happiness experience of this group. The university period is a key stage for the healthy development of an individual’s physical and mental health and the improvement of personality characteristics, and it faces rapid physical and psychological development and gradually matures [ 3 ]. Meanwhile, at this stage, individuals are vulnerable to pressures from study, life, and employment, and often have inner conflicts when dealing with emotional, interpersonal, and other issues [ 4 ]. It is easy to cause emotional disorders in individuals for a long time, thereby reducing the level of their mental health [ 5 ]. Therefore, improving the mental health level of college students and increasing their happiness experience is the key to ensuring their healthy growth and adapting to social development. In the field of sports research, the word “happiness” was frequently mentioned in national sports policy documents. So, can school physical education improve the happiness of college students? The effect, path, and mechanism of the related proposition “Sports promotes the happiness of college students” thus spawned what has undoubtedly become one of the most attractive hot spots in the field of sports science research.

1.1. Research on the Relationship between Physical Exercise and Subjective Well-Being

Subjective well-being is an individual’s overall evaluation of his current quality of life according to his standards; it is an important index to evaluate one’s quality of life, and also a comprehensive psychological index to measure the quality of life, which mainly includes three aspects, life satisfaction, positive emotion, and negative emotion [ 6 , 7 ]. Under the guidance of positive psychology, people gradually realized that improving subjective well-being was an important way to promote their health. Meanwhile, with the development of exercise psychology, more and more studies have confirmed that active physical exercise or exercise participation has a significant positive role in promoting individual subjective well-being [ 8 , 9 , 10 ]. This promotion effect can be roughly divided into the two aspects of internal and external effects. The former emphasizes the pleasure, fluency, and climax generated during physical exercise, allowing individuals to obtain more exercise pleasure, and significantly improve energy and happiness [ 11 , 12 ]. The latter pays attention to the social utility produced in the process of sports participation, including social communication and interaction with others [ 13 , 14 ], and this relationship could bring positive happiness experiences to participating individuals [ 15 , 16 ]. Some scholars have also proposed that active physical exercise could positively predict the subjective well-being of college students [ 17 ]. However, since subjective well-being involves life satisfaction and emotional experience, while physical exercise promotes the improvement of individual subjective well-being through internal and external effects, whether it was directly or indirectly accompanied by changes in other psychological or emotional factors, remains to be explored. Based on this, the research hypothesis (H1) is put forward that physical exercise has a positive predictive effect on the subjective well-being of college students.

1.2. Correlation Research on Self-Efficacy, Emotional Intelligence, and Subjective Well-Being

Self-efficacy refers to the subjective evaluation of an individual’s ability or grasp of his ability to complete a specific behavior in a specific situation. It was often used to explain the reasons for motivation in a special situation, could predict and explain the corresponding behavior, and it was also the psychological motivation for the continuous self-regulation of the individual [ 18 ]. Self-efficacy was considered to be closely related to subjective well-being; some studies have shown that self-efficacy has a significant positive predictive effect on subjective well-being; and the level of self-efficacy has a linear relationship with the individual’s mental health [ 19 , 20 , 21 ]. Simultaneously, the personality trait theory of subjective well-being holds that people’s happy or unhappy genetic qualities enable people to experience life positively or negatively, that is, lifestyle and emotional experience are highly correlated [ 22 ], so, does this also imply that emotional intelligence is closely related to subjective well-being? Emotional intelligence refers to the expression and evaluation of the emotions of oneself and others, the ability to control the emotions of oneself and others, and the ability to use emotions to solve practical problems, that is, a comprehensive ability to accurately perceive, express, and evaluate emotions [ 23 ]. Since subjective well-being is a high-level emotion or emotional experience, and emotional intelligence is manifested in the individual’s ability to recognize, regulate, and manipulate emotional information, can emotional intelligence effectively predict subjective well-being? In recent years, studies have shown that an individual’s emotional intelligence was significantly positively correlated with their subjective well-being, and emotional intelligence can positively predict subjective well-being [ 22 , 24 , 25 ]. Therefore, we speculate that both self-efficacy and emotional intelligence may be important variables that affect subjective well-being. Based on this, the research hypothesis is put forward (H2) that self-efficacy has a positive predictive effect on the subjective well-being of college students and (H3) that emotional intelligence has a positive predictive effect on the subjective well-being of college students.

1.3. The Mediating Effect of Self-Efficacy and Emotional Intelligence between Physical Exercise and Subjective Well-Being

Research on exercise psychology has shown that physical exercise behavior and self-efficacy promote each other; active sports participation could positively affect the participants’ sense of self-efficacy; and self-efficacy will gradually increase with the increase in exercise time and exercise level, improve participants’ satisfaction with life, and promote their physical and mental health [ 26 , 27 , 28 , 29 ]. Studies have pointed out that there was a significant correlation between physical exercise and the self-efficacy of college students; the higher the degree of physical exercise, the higher the exercise self-efficacy [ 30 ]. Meanwhile, the sense of self-efficacy plays a mediating role between physical exercise and the mental health of middle school students; students who participate more in sports have a stronger sense of self-efficacy, often have higher subjective well-being, and the ability to adapt to interpersonal relationships [ 31 , 32 ]. Furthermore, some scholars also pointed out that physical exercise was closely related to emotional intelligence, the individual’s emotional characteristics will be more obvious after physical exercise, and those who consciously insist on long-term exercise generally have a lower chance of occurrence of emotional problems such as anxiety, shock, and social obstacles [ 29 , 33 ]. Participating in sports activities could reduce the tension, anger, and depression of overweight adolescents, and effectively promote their positive health and self-satisfaction [ 34 ]. The results suggest that self-efficacy and emotional intelligence may have a positive effect on physical exercise and subjective well-being. In addition, studies have found that there was a correlation between adolescents’ self-efficacy and emotional intelligence, and that self-efficacy could positively predict college students’ emotional intelligence [ 35 , 36 ]. Similarly, some studies have proved that the higher the sense of self-efficacy, the better the performance of college students in emotional intelligence [ 37 ]. Based on this, the research hypothesis (H4) is put forward that self-efficacy and emotional intelligence play a chain mediating role between physical exercise and subjective well-being.

In summary, although some studies have revealed the positive effects of physical exercise on the subjective well-being of different groups of people, since subjective well-being was a comprehensive psychological indicator involving many influencing factors, the relationships between different factors have not been validated effectively by the model, and few scholars pay attention to the path of “physical exercise + self-efficacy + emotional intelligence + subjective well-being” of college students. Therefore, this research constructs a chain mediation model between physical exercise, self-efficacy, emotional intelligence, and subjective well-being, which aims to reveal the intrinsic correlations between various variables, and improve the level of college students’ psychological health and well-being.

2.1. Participants

This research focuses on some students from freshmen to senior grades at two comprehensive universities in Chongqing, China, who were selected as the survey objects in this study, and 110 to 130 students in each grade were stratified by random sampling to conduct a questionnaire survey, respectively. We obtained the student IDs of all students from the office in advance, and randomly sampled the student IDs at a ratio of about 1:100 according to the actual number of students in the two schools. The selected students were informed to participate in this research and assigned to the designated classroom to complete the questionnaire. To ensure the authenticity of the questionnaire, we fully explained the content and precautions of the questionnaire to the participants before filling in the questionnaire, and adopted the method of distributing and returning the questionnaire on site. The participants needed to complete the questionnaire in the classroom within 20 min. A total of 1005 questionnaires were distributed, and 948 were recovered, with a recovery rate of 94.33%. After excluding 122 invalid questionnaires such as unclear or uncompleted key information, 826 valid questionnaires were finally obtained, with an effective rate of 87.13%. Among them, the questionnaires included 381 boys (46.1%); 445 girls (53.9%); 259 freshmen (31.4%); 320 sophomores (38.7%); 125 juniors (15.1%); and 122 seniors (14.8%); and their average age was 20.13 ± 1.05 years. This study was approved by the Ethics Committee of Ethics Committee of School of Physical Education, Southwest University (SWU-TY202105) and followed the Declaration of Helsinki, and written informed consent was obtained from all participants.

2.2. Questionnaire Design and Reliability and Validity Test

2.2.1. physical activity rating scale (pars-3).

The Physical Activity Rating Scale (PARS-3) is designed for categorizing a person’s level of physical activity. The PARS-3 was revised by Liang [ 38 ], namely physical exercise intensity, exercise time, and exercise frequency. We used Likert’s 5-point formula for quantification, with a score ranging from 1 to 5 points. The physical exercise score = exercise intensity score × (exercise time score-1) × exercise frequency score, and the score range was 0–100 points, to measure the level of participation in physical exercise. The actual physical activity scores for all participants in this study ranged from 0 to 100. The test–retest reliability of the scale was relatively high, and the correlation coefficient was r = 0.82.

2.2.2. Emotional Intelligence Scale (EIS)

The Emotional Intelligence Scale (EIS) is designed to assess an individual’s ability to express, regulate, and use emotions to solve practical problems. The Chinese version of the EIS, revised by Wang et al., was used [ 39 ]. The scale has a total of 33 items, of which 5, 28, and 33 were reverse scoring, which was quantified using the Likert 5-point scale. According to the option “very inconsistent–very consistent”, they were counted as 1–5 points, the score range was 33–165 points, and the higher the score indicated that the emotional intelligence was stronger. The actual emotional intelligence scores of all participants in this study ranged from 42 to 130. After performing factor analysis on the emotional intelligence scale, a total of four common factors were extracted, namely emotional perception (EP); self-emotion management (SEM); emotion management of others (EMO); and emotional application (EA). After direct oblique rotation, the progressive contribution rate of the four common factors was 50.733%. The Cronbach’s α coefficient of EP, SEM, EMO, and EA were 0.88, 0.82, 0.91, and 0.80, respectively. The overall Cronbach’s α coefficient of the scale was 0.91. The confirmatory factor analysis results were: x 2 /df = 1.79, RMSEA = 0.04, AGFI = 0.97, TLI = 0.99, CFI = 0.94, IFI = 0.97, GFI = 0.96, which shows that the scale has good reliability and measurement validity.

2.2.3. General Self-Efficacy Scale (GSES)

The General Self-Efficacy Scale (GSES) is designed for individuals to subjectively assess their ability or degree of assurance that they can perform specific behaviors. The General Self-Efficacy scale was used, revised by Wang et al. [ 40 ], which contains a total of 10 questions, which were quantified by a Likert 4-point scale, and were counted as 1 to 4 points according to the option “disagree–strongly agree”, the score range was 10–40 points, and the higher the score, the stronger the sense of self-efficacy. The actual self-efficacy scores for all participants in this study ranged from 10 to 40 points. After direct oblique rotation, one common factor contained a total of nine items, and another one item was eliminated because it contributed too little to the common factor, the progressive contribution rate of each common factor was 54.158%. The overall Cronbach’s α coefficient of the scale was 0.83. The confirmatory factor analysis results were: x 2 /df = 1.96, RMSEA = 0.06, AGFI = 0.95, TLI = 0.98, CFI = 0.97, IFI = 0.98, GFI = 0.98, which shows that the scale has good reliability and measurement validity.

2.2.4. Subjective Well-Being Scale (SWS)

The Subjective Well-Being Scale (SWS) is a scale designed for individuals to evaluate their quality of life as a whole. The SWS contains two subscales of Life Satisfaction (LS) and the Emotion Scale (ES). The Life Satisfaction Scale, compiled by Diener et al. [ 41 ], was used to measure the cognitive components of subjective well-being, the scale contains five items, which were quantified by a Likert 7-point scale, which was counted separately according to the option “completely disagree–completely agree”, the score range was 5–35 points, and the higher the score, the higher the life satisfaction (LS). The life satisfaction scores for all participants in this study ranged from 5 to 35. The Cronbach’s α coefficient of this scale was 0.85. The confirmatory factor analysis results were: x 2 /df = 2.12, RMSEA = 0.05, AGFI = 0.91, TLI = 0.97, CFI = 0.96, IFI = 0.98, GFI = 0.95.

The Positive and Negative Affect Scale, revised by Qiu et al. [ 42 ], was used to measure the emotional component of subjective well-being. The scale contains a total of 18 items and was quantified using the Likert 5-point scale. The option “nothing at all–very strong” was counted as 1 to 5 points, respectively, and the negative emotion items were scored in reverse, and the score range was 18–90 points. The positive affect and negative affect scores ranged from 20 to 85 for all participants in this study. After performing factor analysis on the scale, a total of two common factors were extracted, namely, positive emotion (PE) and negative emotion (NE). After direct oblique rotation, the progressive contribution rate of the two common factors reached 50.610%. The Cronbach’s α coefficient of PE and NE were 0.82, 0.84, respectively, and the overall Cronbach’s α coefficient was 0.84. Measurement model verification results were: x 2 /df = 1.75, RMSEA = 0.04, AGFI = 0.98, TLI = 0.99, CFI = 0.96, IFI = 0.97, GFI = 0.98. It shows that the scale has good reliability and measurement validity. According to previous studies [ 3 ], the total subjective well-being was divided into the sum of Z scores after the reverse scoring of LS, PE, and NE (see Table 1 ).

Factor extraction and reliability analysis of three measurement scales.

Note: “SE” represents “Self-efficacy”; “EP” represents “Emotional perception”; “SEM” represents “Self-emotion management”; “EMO” represents “Emotion management of others”; “EA” represents “Emotional application”; “LS” represents “Life satisfaction”; “PE” represents “ Positive emotion”; “NE” represents “Negative emotions”.

2.3. Data Analysis

This research used SPSS21.0 and AMOS21.0 to process and analyze the data. Among them, the exploratory factor analysis (EFA), confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), and Cronbach’s Alpha coefficient were used to test the reliability and validity of the scale. The Harman single factor test was used to test the common method deviation of the scale, and the Pearson correlation analysis and linear regression analysis were used to test the relationship between variables. Meanwhile, according to the mediation effect test process proposed by Wen et al. [ 43 ], the Test of Joint Significance method was used and AMOS21.0 was used to establish a structural equation modeling to test the mediation effect. The significance level of all indicators was set to p < 0.05.

3. Research Results

3.1. common method deviation test.

In this study, the Harman single factor test method was used to test the common method deviation [ 44 ]; the results showed that there were 13 factors with characteristic roots greater than 1, and the variance explained by the first factor was 24.15%, which was less than 40% of the critical standard, indicating that there was no serious common method deviation problem.

3.2. Correlation Analysis of Physical Exercise, Self-Efficacy, Emotional Intelligence, and Subjective Well-Being

The Pearson correlation analysis results showed that physical exercise was significantly positively correlated with self-efficacy ( r = 0.38, p < 0.001), and was significantly positively correlated with emotional intelligence ( r = 0.34, p < 0.001), and subjective well-being was significantly positively correlated ( r = 0.31, p < 0.001). Self-efficacy was significantly positively correlated with emotional intelligence ( r = 0.32, p < 0.001), and was significantly positively correlated with subjective well-being ( r = 0.30, p < 0.001). Emotional intelligence and subjective well-being were significantly positively correlated ( r = 0.31, p < 0.001). In addition, the correlation between the main variables and the sub-dimensions all reached a significant level, which provides a good basis for the subsequent test of the mediation effect (see Table 2 ).

Correlation analysis table of the amount of physical exercise, self-efficacy, emotional intelligence, and subjective well-being of college students ( n = 826).

Note: ** p < 0.01, *** p < 0.001.

3.3. Test of the Mediating Effect of Self-Efficacy and Emotional Intelligence

This study uses the mediation effect test procedure proposed by Wen [ 43 ] to conduct a mediation effect test to investigate the relationship between physical exercise, self-efficacy, emotional intelligence, and subjective well-being of college students, and to reveal the mediating role of self-efficacy and emotional intelligence. Firstly, we tested the total effect of physical exercise on subjective well-being, and then tested the fit of the model and the significance of each path coefficient after adding the intermediary variables (self-efficacy, emotional intelligence).

In the total effect model, physical exercise could directly and significantly predict subjective well-being ( β = 0.32, p < 0.001, SE = 0.03). After adding the two mediating variables of self-efficacy and emotional intelligence ( Figure 1 ), the path coefficient of physical exercise on subjective well-being decreased from 0.32 to 0.16 ( p < 0.001, SE = 0.02), and all fitting indexes reached the acceptable level, that is x 2 /df = 1.49, RMSEA = 0.02, GFI = 0.99, TLI = 0.98, CFI = 0.97, NFI = 0.96, AGFI = 0.98. The results of the intermediary test showed that physical exercise could significantly positively predict self-efficacy ( β = 0.38, p < 0.001, SE = 0.02), emotional intelligence ( β = 0.32, p < 0.001, SE = 0.01), and subjective well-being ( β = 0.16, p < 0.001, SE = 0.02). Self-efficacy could significantly positively predict emotional intelligence ( β = 0.29, p < 0.001, SE = 0.01) and subjective well-being ( β = 0.15, p < 0.001, SE = 0.03). Emotional intelligence could significantly positively predict subjective well-being ( β = 0.24, p < 0.001, SE = 0.08). In addition, according to the chain intermediary test process proposed by Taylor et al. [ 45 ], the test of joint significance (Test of Joint Significance) was used to test the chain intermediary effect of physical exercise on subjective well-being, the results showed that the mediating effect of the path “physical exercise → self-efficacy → subjective well-being” was significant, and the effect value was 0.057. The path of “physical exercise → emotional intelligence → subjective well-being” has a significant mediating effect, the effect value was 0.077. The chain mediation effect produced by the path of “physical exercise → self-efficacy → emotional intelligence → subjective well-being” was significant, and the effect value was 0.026 (see Table 3 ).

The chain mediation model of self-efficacy and emotional intelligence between physical exercise and subjective well-being. *** p < 0.001.

Decomposition of the effect of physical exercise on subjective well-being.

To further reveal the deeper relationship among variables, this study conducted a multiple linear regression analysis on the relationship between each dimension.

First, the path of “physical exercise → self-efficacy → subjective well-being” was tested ( Table 4 ). The regression analysis results of each dimension show that physical exercise has a direct predictive effect on LS ( β = 0.279, p < 0.001), PE ( β = 0.286, p < 0.001), and NE ( β = 0.294, p < 0.001), and physical exercise has a direct predictive effect on self-efficacy ( β = 0.382, p < 0.001). In addition, when physical exercise and self-efficacy were both used as independent variables, physical exercise, and self-efficacy could jointly predict LS (β = 0.210, p < 0.001; β = 0.180, p < 0.001, respectively), and could also jointly predict PE ( β = 0.208, p < 0.001; β = 0.205, p < 0.001, respectively) and NE ( β = 0.216, p < 0.001; β = 0.204, p < 0.001, respectively). It suggested that self-efficacy has a partial mediating effect on physical exercise and life satisfaction, positive emotion, and negative emotion, respectively.

Regression analysis between the sub-dimensions of physical exercise, self-efficacy, and subjective well-being.

Note: *** p < 0.001.

Secondly, the path of “physical exercise → emotional intelligence → subjective well-being” was tested ( Table 5 ). The regression analysis results of each dimension showed that physical exercise has a direct predictive effect on LS ( β = 0.279, p < 0.001), PE ( β = 0.286, p < 0.001), and NE ( β = 0.294, p < 0.001), meanwhile, physical exercise has a positive effect on EP ( β = 0.356, p < 0.001), SEM ( β = 0.185, p < 0.001), EMO ( β = 0.398, p < 0.001), and EA ( β = 0.115, p < 0.01). Direct prediction effect: in addition, when physical exercise and self-efficacy (EP, SEM, EMO, EA) were both used as independent variables, besides EP and SEM, the physical exercise, EMO, and EA could jointly predict LS ( β = 0.198, p < 0.001; β = 0.165, p < 0.01; β = 0.084, p < 0.05, respectively), and could also predict PE ( β = 0.201, p < 0.001; β = 0.168, p < 0.01; β = 0.105, p < 0.01, respectively) and NE ( β = 0.205, p < 0.001; β = 0.141, p < 0.01; β = 0.130, p < 0.01, respectively). It suggested that, in the mediating effect of emotional intelligence, only the two dimensions of other people’s emotional management and emotional application play a part in the mediating effect in the path of “physical exercise → emotional intelligence → subjective well-being”.

Regression analysis among sub-dimensions of physical exercise, emotional intelligence, and subjective well-being.

Note: * p < 0.05, ** p < 0.01, *** p < 0.001, m1 represents emotional perception, m2 represents self-emotion management, m3 represents emotional management of others, and m4 represents the emotional application.

Finally, “physical exercise → self-efficacy → emotional intelligence → subjective well- being” was tested ( Table 6 ). The regression analysis results of each dimension showed that when physical exercise, self-efficacy, and emotional intelligence (EP, SEM, EMO, EA) were all used as independent variables, in addition to EP and SEM, the physical exercise, self-efficacy, EMO and EA could predict LS together ( β = 0.162, p < 0.001; β = 0.136, p < 0.001; β = 0.136, p < 0.01; β = 0.090, p < 0.05, respectively), and also predict PE together ( β = 0.159, p < 0.001; β = 0.161, p < 0.001; β = 0.135, p < 0.01; β = 0.113, p < 0.01, respectively) and NE ( β = 0.164, p < 0.001; β = 0.157, p < 0.001; β = 0.108, p < 0.05; β = 0.137, p < 0.001, respectively). It showed that among the chain mediation effects of self-efficacy and emotional intelligence, mainly self-efficacy, emotional management of others, and emotional application play a part in the mediating effect, which in turn affects life satisfaction, positive emotions, and negative emotions.

Regression analysis among sub-dimensions of physical exercise, self-efficacy, emotional intelligence, and subjective well-being.

Note: * p < 0.05, ** p < 0.01, *** p < 0.001.

4. Discussion

4.1. the direct impact of physical exercise on the subjective well-being of college students.

This study found that physical exercise could positively predict the subjective well-being of college students. This was consistent with previous studies [ 46 , 47 ]. Generally speaking, when an individual has more positive emotions, less negative emotions, and higher life satisfaction, it will be accompanied by an increase in subjective well-being [ 48 ]. Studies have shown that sports participation and subjective well-being were positively correlated, and college students who regularly participate in sports activities score higher in life satisfaction and positive emotions [ 49 ]. Meanwhile, researchers such as Chen et al. [ 50 ] believe that physical exercise has a direct positive predictive effect on the subjective well-being of college students, that is, physical exercise could effectively promote college students’ physical and mental satisfaction, to enhance and improve their sense of pleasure, positive emotions, and subjective evaluation of the quality of life. Among them, campus sports activities have a significant impact on the quality of life of college students [ 51 ]. This showed that regular participation in physical exercise could induce positive emotions, improve life satisfaction, and produce positive benefits for participants’ well-being [ 52 , 53 ]. In addition, some scholars pointed out that active participation in sports activities can not only enable people to obtain a “happy and successful psychological experience”, but also achieve individual happiness satisfaction through participation in physical exercise [ 17 , 54 ]. Therefore, physical exercise has a positive predictive effect on the subjective well-being of college students, and college students could improve their subjective well-being experience by actively participating in physical exercise or activities.

4.2. The Mediating Effect of Self-Efficacy between Physical Exercise and Subjective Well-Being

This study found, through structural equation modeling, that self-efficacy plays a part in the mediating role in physical exercise and subjective well-being, with a mediation effect ratio of 17.81%, and we proved that self-efficacy has a partial mediating effect on the three dimensions of physical exercise and life satisfaction, positive emotion, and negative emotion. Previous studies have shown that physical exercise plays an important role in enhancing the individual’s sense of self-efficacy, and self-efficacy will change adaptively with the depth of exercise [ 29 , 55 ]. Among college students, physical exercise and self-efficacy were significantly positively correlated; the higher the degree of physical exercise, the higher the college students’ exercise self-efficacy, and there were significant differences in the individual’s self-efficacy for different amounts of exercise [ 27 , 30 ]. Some scholars pointed out that people with high self-efficacy were generally more confident in life and maintained a certain level of subjective well-being, that is, self-efficacy could significantly positively predict subjective well-being [ 56 , 57 ]. In contrast, people with low self-efficacy were often skeptical of their abilities, and tended to choose to relax or give up when facing difficulties, and they had relatively more negative emotional experiences [ 58 ], which will reduce their subjective well-being to a certain extent. In addition, some scholars believe that physical exercise, self-efficacy, and subjective well-being were closely related, physical exercise could promote self-efficacy, and high self-efficacy could effectively improve the individual’s life satisfaction, quality of life, and other happiness perception experiences [ 59 , 60 , 61 ].

4.3. The Mediating Effect of Emotional Intelligence between Physical Exercise and Subjective Well-Being

The research results showed that the emotional intelligence also plays a part in the mediating role in physical exercise and subjective well-being pathways, with a mediation effect ratio of 24.06%. Many studies have shown that physical exercise can bring participants emotional regulation benefits, and the unity and mutual assistance, interpersonal communication, and emotional expression provided by the sports environment were all conducive to the development of emotional intelligence [ 34 , 62 ]. College students with high physical activity have relatively higher emotional intelligence [ 29 ], and higher positive emotions. In contrast, the greater the amount of activity, the lower their negative emotion scores [ 63 ]. Meanwhile, the improvement of emotional intelligence seems to promote the improvement of subjective well-being. Some scholars pointed out that emotional intelligence plays a positive role in predicting the subjective well-being of an individual, which was manifested as a significant correlation with the cognitive component of subjective well-being, namely life satisfaction, and people with high emotional intelligence who accept, use, understand, and manage their own and others’ emotions were more dominant, and their life satisfaction and subjective well-being levels are also higher [ 22 , 25 , 64 , 65 ]. This result was also in line with the opinions of researchers such as Extremera et al. [ 66 ], that is, that college students with higher emotional intelligence levels have higher positive emotions, while their negative emotions were lower. Similarly, this study found that in the emotional intelligence of college students, only the emotional management of others and the application of emotion played a part of the mediating role between physical exercise and subjective well-being and its various dimensions, and the level of significance of the emotional management of others was higher. However, there were certain differences in the significance level of each dimension, we speculate that this may be related to the individual differences in the emotional intelligence of college students. Some scholars have pointed out that physical exercise can improve the participants’ enjoyment of the sports experience, provide social support, promote physical changes, enhance physical, mental pleasure and emotional intelligence, thereby improving their quality of life and subjective well-being [ 52 , 67 ].

4.4. Chain Mediating Effects of Self-Efficacy and Emotional Intelligence

The research results show that self-efficacy and emotional intelligence play a chain mediating role in the path of physical exercise affecting college students’ subjective well-being, and the chain mediating effect ratio was 8.13%. It was worth noting that, in this process, only the emotional management and emotional application of others have participated in the adjustment of emotional intelligence, while life satisfaction, positive emotions, and negative emotions have all participated in the adjustment of subjective well-being. This shows that college students who regularly participate in physical exercises often have a higher sense of self-efficacy, could be more determined that they could complete a certain behavior and achieve expected goals, were more able to perceive and evaluate the emotions of others in specific situations, could also be correctly applying and managing emotional intelligence, and could better obtain subjective well-being experiences such as positive emotions and life satisfaction. The above and previous studies have confirmed that physical exercise could directly and positively affect the subjective well-being of college students [ 55 , 60 , 61 ], while self-efficacy plays a mediating role between physical exercise and subjective well-being [ 59 , 61 ], and emotional intelligence plays a mediating role between physical exercise and subjective well-being [ 52 , 67 ], then, if there was a positive correlation between self-efficacy and emotional intelligence, a chain mediating effect may be formed. Interestingly, some studies have shown that self-efficacy and emotional intelligence have a significant correlation, the higher the self-efficacy, the more positive the improvement of individual emotional intelligence [ 35 , 36 , 68 , 69 ].

To sum up, physical exercise can not only positively and directly affect the subjective well-being of college students, but also indirectly affect their subjective well-being through the chain mediating effect of self-efficacy and emotional intelligence. Therefore, it is suggested that university administrators should provide students with more physical exercise resources and opportunities, create a good exercise environment, and encourage and guide students to participate in various physical activities, which will help improve their well-being experience and physical and mental health.

4.5. Limitations

• (1) Since this study was horizontal, the results obtained were more subjective and unable to draw deeper causal relationships. In future studies, longitudinal empirical research could be added to better reveal the causal relationship between variables;
• (2) This study took students from two comprehensive universities in southwest China as the survey subjects, and the conclusions reached have certain limitations, future studies could select a wider group of subjects to test the external validity of the research results;
• (3) This study mainly examines the mediating role of self-efficacy and emotional intelligence. In the future, more psychological variables could be added to investigate their impact on the subjective well-being of college students, and the depth and breadth of research could be expanded.

5. Conclusions

• (1) Physical exercise was significantly positively correlated with college students’ self-efficacy, emotional intelligence, and subjective well-being; self-efficacy was significantly positively correlated with emotional intelligence and subjective well-being; emotional intelligence was significantly positively correlated with subjective well-being;
• (2) Physical exercise has a direct and positive predictive effect on subjective well-being;
• (3) Self-efficacy plays a partial mediating role between physical exercise and subjective well-being, and emotional intelligence also plays a partial mediating role between physical exercise and the subjective well-being of college students and its three dimensions; “Self-efficacy → emotional intelligence” has a chain mediating role between physical exercise and subjective well-being. Among them, only others’ emotional management and emotional application were involved in the regulation of emotional intelligence, while life satisfaction, positive emotions, and negative emotions were all involved in the regulation of subjective well-being.

Author Contributions

Conceptualization, K.W.; methodology, K.W. and Y.L.; software, Y.L.; validation, K.W.; formal analysis, K.W. and Y.L.; investigation, T.Z.; resources, J.L.; data curation, K.W. and Y.L.; writing—original draft preparation, K.W.; writing—review and editing, J.L.; visualization, T.Z.; supervision, K.W. and T.Z.; project administration, J.L.; funding acquisition, J.L. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

This study was supported by the Ministry of Education, Humanities and social science research projects of China (Grant No. 20YJA890018).

Institutional Review Board Statement

The study was conducted according to the guidelines of the Declaration of Helsinki, and approved by the ETHICS COMMITTEE OF SCHOOL OF PHYSICAL EDUCATION, SOUTHWEST UNIVERSITY (protocol code SWU_TY202105).

Informed Consent Statement

Informed consent was obtained from all subjects involved in the study.

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

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How music amplifies social, emotional development in education| Explained

Engaging with music in schools cultivates social awareness by exposing students to diverse cultures and perspectives, and fostering empathy and understanding through shared experiences and expressions..

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In the journey of nurturing young minds, educators and counsellors constantly seek innovative approaches to support children's mental health. Amidst various strategies, the profound impact of music often remains underestimated. Beyond mere entertainment, music possesses transformative potential, serving as a powerful tool to enhance children's well-being.

Research has shown that music does more than help us feel a certain way - it impacts our physical, mental and emotional health. It can even help improve medical outcomes and a patient's quality of life.

EMOTIONAL EXPRESSION AND REGULATION

ENHANCING COGNITIVE SKILLS

Fostering social connection.

Incorporate music into daily routines: Start the day with uplifting songs, use music during transitions between activities, or introduce calming melodies during relaxation periods.

Facilitate reflection: Encourage children to reflect on the emotions conveyed in the music they encounter, fostering empathy and emotional intelligence.

Offer music-making opportunities: Provide access to musical instruments, encourage singing activities, or organise group music-making sessions to promote active engagement and self-expression.

Use music for mindfulness and relaxation: Introduce mindfulness exercises accompanied by soothing music to help children centre their thoughts and emotions, promoting relaxation and stress relief.

Explore music therapy interventions: Collaborate with certified music therapists to implement targeted interventions addressing specific mental health concerns, such as anxiety, depression, or trauma.

Encourage diverse musical experiences: Expose children to a wide range of musical genres, cultures, and traditions to foster appreciation for diversity and broaden their musical horizons.

"By integrating life skills and emotional competencies into choir activities and using music as a tool for promoting social development and emotional well-being, we can significantly enrich the lives of children and individuals of all ages," Sriram further added.

In the journey of supporting children's mental health and well-being, music emerges as a powerful ally for educators and counsellors. Through its transformative potential, music facilitates emotional expression, reduces stress, enhances cognitive skills, fosters social connection, and empowers creative self-expression.